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Jeanette Cheney

With so many people working in the sector and even more wanting to break in, we are often swamped with creatives to choose from.

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In Australia the arts are a multi-billion dollar industry, contributing some $50 billion to Australia’s GDP and employing more than 320,000 people according to recent census data. With so many people working in the sector and even more wanting to break in, we are often swamped with creatives to choose from when advertising a vacant position.

So how do you refine this immensely diverse community into a small cross selection of suitable applicants for your arts jobs?

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Listing an open position can be a truly daunting task. It’s as if you are putting your business or organisations’ heart and soul online and hoping that the jobs market will answer with suitable applicants who get you and the job description.

From all of our experiences of applying for jobs – successfully or unsuccessfully – as well as our experiences of being at the other end of the recruitment process, ArtsHub has identified three simple ways to get the best applicants for your arts job:

Advertise where the creative people are

It’s hard to know where to go when you want to give your job ad the best exposure to the arts and creative industries. Exposure is crucial if you want your job ad to have impact. In 2015 an estimated 56% of Australians used the internet to access Arts content. Did you know that the ArtsHub Jobs Bulletin is sent to over 28,000 people each and every week?

Be concise with your desires

Know exactly what you want from your dream employee. Include clear guidelines about the job, including responsibilities, and requirements. Avoid jargon and trendy terms – be straightforward but not too dry. The more relevant information about the position that you can give a candidate, the better for all involved. It might be painful at the time of writing but a little bit of pain now will yield stronger results in the long run.

Let the applicant be creative

If your business is craving creativity and a pinch of artistic flair why are you asking for a two page, black and white word document as their application? Let your candidates show you why they are the right person for the job through their various talents, skills and passions.

Finding the perfect candidate in the arts comes with its fair share of rejection, self-doubt, expended energy, false starts, and twists and turns. But with every interview, application, contract, and new idea comes an opportunity to learn more about what you need, an experience which might even surprise you.

We at ArtsHub, hope you find what you’re looking for, and more importantly, enjoy the process. Who knows, perhaps your ideal new employee is reading this right now!